G8 summit: Arab uprisings set to dominate agenda

Source: BBC News

World leaders are gathering in the French resort of Deauville for a summit of the G8 bloc of wealthy nations.

The leaders are expected to discuss how to end the seemingly deadlocked Libya conflict, and their response to the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia.

Correspondents say recent events such as uprisings in the Arab world and Japan's nuclear crisis have given the G8 a new sense of purpose.

Also on the agenda is how little or how much the internet should be regulated.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13554836

Things aren't that rosy at home.

"Interim prime ministers from Tunisia and Egypt - where longtime leaders were overthrown this year - and the head of the Arab League will also be at Deauville for talks on a massive aid plan to help their transition to democracy."

Hope the 'rich' countries don't say "Our money is for 'us'. Even though we were largely supportive of the dictators that ruled you for decades, you poor folks can figure out a way to help yourselves. (Pull yourselves up by your own bootstraps and all that.)"

Britain is to set aside £110m over the next four years to foster democracy and economic growth in Tunisia and Egypt as part of a wider international package to show support for the Arab spring.

David Cameron, speaking on the opening day of the G8 summit of leading economies in Deauville, Normandy, argued that if Britain did not help the fledgling democracies of north Africa the result would be poisonous extremism and waves of illegal immigration into the UK.

The G8 is hammering out a wider package of aid to north Africa as the centrepiece of its two-day deliberations.

Cameron said: "I want a very simple and clear message to come out of this summit and that is that the most powerful nations on Earth have come together and are saying to all those in the Middle East and north Africa who want greater democracy and greater freedom and greater civil rights – we are on your side."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/26/g8-summit-egypt-tunisia-democracy

in fact, most of the "G8" is already quite busy with the ongoing counter-revolution in most of those countries, spearheaded by Saudi-occupied Arabia and the rest of the GCC monarchy club.